Caramel corn is one of my favorite reasons for this season. It’s like a right of passage into fall. There are a lot of great recipes out there, but I love the addition of honey in this recipe. It takes it over the top. It’s just the right amount of sweet and crunch.
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed {How to Make Your Own Brown Sugar}
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
16 cups {4 quarts} popcorn, popped
Directions
Preheat oven to 250F. In a large saucepan, melt butter and then stir in sugar, honey and salt. Cook mixture until it boils, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium and boil until the temp reaches 265 F {hard ball stage} without stirring. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and baking soda {and watch it bubble up!}.
Pour mix over popped popcorn and stir it up.
Dump onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, stirring twice during baking. Wait for popcorn to cool before breaking into pieces. Enjoy!
Smo-Jo says
That caramel corn looks awesome!
Kim in Central Valley, CA says
Thank you for this Mavis! I very well may be making this today.
KC says
My favorite caramel popcorn tip is to make it in a turkey roasting pan – the deep edges make stirring the caramel into the corn less fraught with peril of losing precious (and sticky) kernels at the beginning of the process. I also don’t line the pan – I just fill it with water and the caramel soaks off fine, although if I had a silpat that fit my turkey roaster, I might…
KC says
(also, pedantic note: “right of passage” is typically “rite of passage”)
Martha says
try adding a 1/4 tsp of cayanne stirred into the baking soda…….
Jackie says
What does cooking it in the oven do?
Mavis Butterfield says
It hardens the caramel.